


Burning the Candle

by VHCrowfeather



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Candle lit smiles, F/M, Overworking, SecretSanta2020, tired hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:07:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28181379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VHCrowfeather/pseuds/VHCrowfeather
Summary: Jester lost track of time reading, as she heads of to bed she finds that she is not the only one who stayed up way to late for anyone who needs sleep to regain their spellslots
Relationships: Jester Lavorre/Caleb Widogast
Comments: 3
Kudos: 46





	Burning the Candle

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EyeLoch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EyeLoch/gifts).



> Happy Holidays everybody! especially EyeLoch who revives this secret santa gift from moi!  
> Also if there is anybody who's wondering. No, this is not what have kept me away from "Mother Knows Best" I'm just really bad at prioritizing and hopefully there will be some kind of update on the way.  
> anyway hope you enjoy this and may your holidays be happy, safe, and filled with fluff.

A sudden sound startled Jester awake, she had been reading in a corner of Caleb's enormous library, and after losing track of time she had managed to fall asleep on the large sofa. It hadn’t been the plan but she’d managed to find a book on Exandrian myths and folklore. Now,that wasn’t normally her thing, but the stories had been written in such a way that she’d found herself engrossed and unable to put the book down. She had been especially interested in the story about the Wizard who trapped the fire under a mountain, and the one about the Queen who healed the demon's heart.

Looking around for whatever had awoken her, she noticed that the amber lights that usually illuminated the halls had faded, leaving the giant chamber in a weak warm glow from the dying fireplace. She soon located the source of the noise, the book she had been reading had slipped out of her hands and fallen to the floor with a heavy thud. She placed it on the table and got up to go to her room.

As she ascended, she noticed a soft glow from the map room. letting her curiosity take over she decided to check it out. As she landed,she found Caleb leaning over the map table muttering to himself in Zemnian while reading some papers.He looked like he hadn’t slept for days, and a single lit candle illuminated his features from below.

“What time is it, Cayleb?” she asked as she got near him.He jumped at the sound of her voice, clearly too distracted by whatever it was he was doing to notice her arrival.  
“Jester, are you still up?” he asked “It’s a little after 2 in the morning,” he then added after a second.  
“I fell asleep in the library,” she confessed, “What about you, couldn’t sleep?”  
Caleb’s face turned slightly red “Oh, not really,” he said as he rubbed his neck, “I had a thought but… It was stupid;it didn’t go anywhere”

Jester couldn’t help but notice how worn out Caleb looked; she had the distinct notion that this was not the first night he had sacrificed sleep for whatever was going on in his brain.

“Well, can I help?” she asked, moving around the table to stand next to him. 

The papers were filled with notes, some in Caleb’s neat handwriting, a couple in Beau's scraggly lines, but most were not familiar, neither handwriting nor language. There were glyphs, graphs, and illustrations seemingly depicting a large fire bird that looked strangely familiar.

“Isn’t this one of the drawings we found in that temple of Uk’otoa?” she asked, looking up at him.

“Yes ah… I had this thought that perhaps I could find some useful information in the stories about it but it… didn’t pan out.”

She couldn’t place it but she had a feeling he wasn’t telling her the entire truth.

“Cayleb,” she whispered, reaching up to touch his face, “Talk to me, please.”

“I…” Caleb tried to take a step back but instead his legs gave out, causing him to stumble and Jester had to shoot forward to catch him.

“When was the latest time you got a proper night's rest?” she asked, shocked at how weak he seemed to be.

“I uh, admit it’s been a while,” Caleb breathed, an exhausted smile on his lips, “Perhaps I should venture to bed.” 

Not trusting him to follow up on himself, Jester chose to bring him up to his room. As they floated up to his and Veth’s floor, he leaned heavier on her, his smell overtaking her senses.

She got him to his room and led him to his bed. They ended up standing next to his bed when Jester finally gathered up the courage to say what she had wanted to since she found him in the library.

“Cayleb, you shouldn't push yourself this hard,” she whispered, “If you don’t take care of yourself, then you are going to ruin yourself.”

Caleb opened his mouth to protest but she quickly added, “I know you think it’s helping us, whatever it is you’re doing, but we need you at your best, all smart and stuff. And to do that, you need to rest. You won’t help anyone if you collapse from exhaustion.”

On an impulse, she pulled him into a hug and, after a few seconds, his rigid arms wrapped them self around her as well.

“Thank you, Jester,” she felt him whisper into her hair, “I’ll try to remember that.”

The hug lasted almost a full minute, and Jester almost worried he was falling asleep in her arms. At the same time, Jester did want to let go. Holding him somehow felt right. So when they eventually broke apart, she once again acting on impulse, rose to her toes and pressed her lips against his.

Normally, she would have been nervous, considered his reaction, agonized over if she had misread his actions over the last weeks, and eventually decided it wasn’t worth the risk. But right now it was late, and she was too tired to be nervous about such things. And as Caleb kissed her back, and his arms wrapped around her waist to pull her ever so closer, she knew it had been the right call.

As they once again separated, Caleb smiled down at her, searching her face for some hint of regret but there was none to be found.

“How am I supposed to sleep now Blueberry?” he asked in a soft whisper.

Jester smiled mischievously.  
“Oh! like this!” she said, giving him a gentle push down into the bed and then climbed in after him. She tucked them in, wrapped her arms and tail around him, and snuggled close to him.

“Good night, Caleb,” she whispered and pressed a kiss against his cheek as she felt him hug her back and get comfortable in her cool embrace.

As she fell asleep she heard him whisper.

“Gute nacht Jester, meine Liebe”.


End file.
